Rape kit backlog legislation merits support

Express-News Editorial Board

Published
12:00 am CDT, Saturday, April 27, 2019

Vials of evidence are labelled in the biology lab at the Houston Forensic Science Center in 2015. The Senate should do as the Texas House did and pass HB 8, which addresses the state’s rape kit backlog.

Vials of evidence are labelled in the biology lab at the Houston Forensic Science Center in 2015. The Senate should do as the Texas House did and pass HB 8, which addresses the state’s rape kit backlog.

Photo: Pat Sullivan /AP

Photo: Pat Sullivan /AP

Image
1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Vials of evidence are labelled in the biology lab at the Houston Forensic Science Center in 2015. The Senate should do as the Texas House did and pass HB 8, which addresses the state’s rape kit backlog.

Vials of evidence are labelled in the biology lab at the Houston Forensic Science Center in 2015. The Senate should do as the Texas House did and pass HB 8, which addresses the state’s rape kit backlog.

Photo: Pat Sullivan /AP

Rape kit backlog legislation merits support

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

Legislation that addresses how quickly evidence in sexual assault cases must be submitted to a lab could help resolve the state’s decades-old rape kit backlog problem.

Establishing limits on how long law enforcement agencies can take to transport the kits to a lab and pausing the statute of limitations for sexual assault cases until the evidence is tested — as proposed by HB 8 — are positive steps. The legislation is authored by state Rep. Victoria Neave, D-Dallas.

We urge members of the Texas Senate to give the legislation the same overwhelming support it received in the House earlier this month. Rape survivors should not be revictimized by an inefficient system that has in the past allowed evidence to gather dust and remain untested.

A statewide audit conducted following the 2011 legislative session revealed 19,000 untested rape kits. Included in that number were some that had been collected decades earlier.

It is difficult to determine the exact number of untested rape kits in the state at this time, but the Texas Observer reports there are at least 3,000 rape kits awaiting testing at the Department of Public Safety.

Lawmakers have tried to address issues with the rape kit backlog with increased funding, but the allocations have never been quite enough. In 2017 the state resorted to crowdfunding to fill the gaps. For years Texas drivers renewing their licenses have been allowed to donate money to various funds, such as the organ registry and veterans assistance. The list now includes a fund to tackle the rape kit backlog. Thus far the fund has received just over $500,000 from Texas motorists.

This legislative session the proposed House budget includes $38 million for personnel and technology to ensure rape kits can be processed in a more timely manner.

Neave’s legislation is named after Lavina Masters, who was raped in 1985 when she was 13. The evidence in that case sat untested in the Dallas Police Department for 20 years, well beyond the 10-year statute of limitations on sexual assault cases. When the evidence was finally tested, it was discovered it matched a serial rapist serving time for other assaults.

Timely processing of evidence would bring swifter resolution to new cases and keep cases from piling up.